McDonnell’s view of the election

If you’re not on Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell’s political e-mail list, you might have missed his take on the election.

After the perfunctory congratulations to and pledges to work with the winners, he acknowledges, “Yesterday in
Virginia was a tough one for our Party.”

Perhaps most interesting is his reference to the “wise counsel” of outgoing Northern Virginia Republican Congressman Tom Davis “about the need to reach out to all communities in Virginia.”

You’ll recall that Davis backed out of a run for the Senate seat won by Mark Warner because he didn’t believe he had enough appeal to the Republican base to challenge former Gov. Jim Gilmore at a convention. He thought he could have prevailed in a primary.

The 34 percent of the vote that Gilmore received goes a long way toward confirming the wisdom of Davis’ counsel.